A patient presents with rectal bleeding, and his organ systems start to shut down. What could be the cause?
Answer:
Erdheim-Chester disease.
Ebola virus.
I SO hope you're not a doctor...
Your patient is possibly septic.
please, just do the work yourself. I would hate to think that my health care provider googled or yahoo'd my diagnosis.
whew, do I feel better, just a show and I missed that one.
First guess, SIRS (Systemic inflammatory response syndrome )... without any more info that is just too vague to really do anything with that...
p.s. ebola presents with a hemorrhagic rash that would be noticed right away.
Need more info especially age and past history and medication history. Is the someone you know or an episode of ' House MD' that I missed?
i'm not a professional but one disease i'm fairly sure can cause this is ebola
Possibly a GI bleed. Which could be anything from a duodenal (or some other) ulcer or some sort of varriceal haemorrage. It could be trauma, maybe an organ has suffered damage because of an accident or something. Its impossible to answer without knowing the patients history and blood results. I would look closely at LFT's.
asprin overdose and toxicity.
A bleeding ulcer or foreign body causing internal ruptures and bleeding come to mind - mass organ failure could be caused by hypovolemic shock which in a child of about 10 would take several hours to become life threatening, kidneys are the first to shut down which would result in a noticeable rise in creatinine levels and internal damage to the kidneys them selves which could result in some blood passing into the bladder prior to kidney failure.
If a foreign body was to blame it could have either been swallowed or inserted rectally (and either left in situ or removed) - either voluntarily or forcefully.
Ulceration could be caused by excess stomach acid, administering ibuprofen repeatedly on an empty stomach (not advisable) or aspirin (which should be under medical supervision only in all children regardless of age.) to name but a few. Poisoning and antacids can have a similar effect.
I doubt you would ever be able to compile a full list of potential causes.
What I would want to do (not necessarily in this order):
# Full bld chemistry + toxicology + group/save (in case of transfusions needed)
# Urine and stools sent for mc&s + toxicology
# Access dehydration and start rehydration fluids
# Full event history from child (if poss) and family - anything happened (trauma - falls, abuse), what has been taken (food, drink, and meds etc)
# Child put on cardiac monitor with TPR +BP recorded regally (5 - 10 min intervals)
# Surgical opinion as to internal bleeding
# Abdo and pelvic x-rays - to identify root of bleeding
# observe and record rash and spread
I'm sure I'll think of other things to add later
Ooh, this is a fun question! Also thinking a SIRS type of picture, could also be in DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulation) or HUS (hemolytic-uremic syndrome) since it's a child. How much rectal bleeding? Bright red, or dark/melena? Don't need to have a fever if septic, so that clue doesn't help much.
Has to be Ebola virus.
The medicine and health information post by website user , ByeDR.com not guarantee correctness , is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions.
More Questions and Answers...